Does anybody know what is going on with those store front in New Falls under the new and improved projects on the bottom of ridge. They have been completed for a year now and it doesn't seem like anybody is interested in renting this space. What is the deal?

I heard they weren't heavily marketing them. They may be waiting for the upscale Westrum project to be built and see if that's a draw.

That's highly likely as rumors abound that the Westrum project may include a Whole Foods. If true, it will make those properties much more marketable.

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The 'market rate' homes that will be on the hill with the projects??

btw: that Japanese restaurant is f/s as well. A NYC firm is looking to buy it and put multi million dollar mansions there.

I read an article not long ago mentioning that market rate houses built by Westrum will be built in the neighborhood where the subsidized houses were just built. The market rate house will be at the top of the hill I beleive.
I think there will be major changes in the area in the next few years with the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center and the other buildings on Ridge bordering the Drive. If this takes off, maybe there will start to be more spill over of development in Strawberry Mansion and West Allegheny neighborhoods.

Those stores where part of the east falls housing project that Rendell and Ron White where behind. They will probably sit vacant, because the money to build them has already been paid out. The City and developers benefited.

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Once again Pug is misinformed. The city was the developer and I doubt anybody got rich off that site.

Retailers have no interest in the space because it sits beneath a low-income age-restricted retirement complex. Needless to say, that is not a demographic that retailers covet.

Additionally, there is no parking.

We've approached both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and both refused to tour the space despite our offer to do a space plan for them on the grounds that:

1) The space is too narrow (only Whole Foods had this concern).
2) The demographic in the immediate area is all wrong, and in the extended area the density is not in place yet.
3) There is no place to park, (something the city completely overlooked when they had the brilliant idea to build retail there).

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I thought PennRose was the developer? No?

So no Whole Foods? Drat.

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Sort of depends how you define "developer" - PennRose executed a project that was handed to them by the city in terms of the land - it was more of a project management role and as such their upside was limited.

Whole Foods said that they have eyed up what they refer to as "the manayunk" market for a couple years now, but they are still uncertain about the demographic and "how it changes up the hill" (their words not mine) and that they were dealing with 2 entirely different demographics.

In short, they don't know if there are quite enough people in the area yet who are willing to pay $19.99/lb for dry aged black angus strip steak.

They've also not been able to identify a satisfactory location with parking, with the exception of the Movie Theatre/Diner/State Store location - I got the sense that they did some homework on that site because the woman knew exactly when the lease expired for the diner.

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that location seems to make the most sense in terms of parking and access to manayunk, roxborough, east falls, bala cynwyd, and bemont hills. how about where that storage facility is?

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